Delaware franchise tax
Every Delaware C-corp owes an annual franchise tax by March 1. The state's default invoice uses a method that badly overcharges startups — often by tens of thousands of dollars. Tenacap prepares the report from your cap table, computes the tax both legal ways, and recommends the cheaper one, so you file the right amount on time.
Delaware C-corps see a Delaware franchise tax page in the company nav. It mirrors every field on the state’s Annual Franchise Tax Report, filled in from your company record and cap table, and shows the tax computed under both of Delaware’s methods with the lower one recommended. Everything here is a prepared worksheet — Tenacap never files or pays with the state on your behalf.
The two methods
Delaware lets you compute the franchise tax two ways and pay the lower:
- Authorized Shares Method — a step function of your authorized share count. This is the state’s default invoice, and it’s brutal for a company with a large authorized count and a tiny par value: a 10,000,000-share shell is billed roughly $85,000 here.
- Assumed Par Value Capital Method — uses your issued shares and total gross assets to derive an “assumed par,” then taxes the authorized capital at that value. For most early-stage companies this lands at or near the $400 minimum.
Tenacap computes both, shows the math, and highlights the recommended (lower) amount plus the $50 annual report fee, so you can see exactly what you’ll save by electing the assumed par method on the portal.
Prepare your report
The page pulls your legal name, incorporation date, authorized stock, and par value straight from your records, and the issued-share total from your cap table. Fill in the Delaware-specific fields the state form needs — file number, registered agent, principal office, officers, and directors — under Filing details. Anything left blank is clearly marked “needs input” on the generated PDF, so you always know what’s outstanding.
Gross assets
The Assumed Par Value method needs your total gross assets (U.S. Form 1120, Schedule L). Enter it in Filing details; if you’ve already recorded a total-assets figure on the compliance page, Tenacap uses that unless you override it here.
Filing on the state portal
Download the prepared PDF and open the Delaware Division of Corporations filing portal straight from the page. On the portal, elect the recommended method and enter the figures from the worksheet (issued shares and gross assets) to recompute the lower amount. The report and payment are due March 1; late filings incur a $200 penalty plus 1.5% monthly interest.
February reminder
Turn on the reminder and Tenacap emails your workspace admins the prepared package — the recommended amount, the portal link, and the PDF attached — in the weeks before March 1 (the lead time is configurable). You get one email per year, and it stops once you mark the year filed.
Record what you filed
Save the year’s computed figures as a prepared filing for your audit trail, then, once you’ve filed on the portal, mark it filed with the amount paid and the state confirmation number. Each year’s record is kept so you always have a history of what was owed and paid.